Noodles and Soup Dumplings

As Lin Su walked out of his second brother's study, the sun was already setting in the west.

Xiao Yao sat on a stone stool ahead, propping up her chin as she watched the sunset.

From far away, Lin Su could already see her little mouth pouting high enough to hang an oil bottle from it.

"What's wrong? Hasn't the meat in your belly finished digesting yet? What new sorrow have you got now?"

"Madam... Madam gave all the meat away..."

What?

Xiao Yao explained the situation with considerable grievance.

"She gave it all away?"

"Not all of it. There's still a tiny bit left, but it'll be gone tomorrow..." The girl was on the verge of tears.

"It's fine!" Lin Su said. "That stuff was only meant for emergencies. Were you planning to eat it for the rest of your life? Besides, what they made wasn't tasty at all. Let's go get something delicious!"

Xiao Yao raised her head, and that familiar glimmer appeared at the corner of her mouth again.

Was that really necessary, girl? You had eaten an entire chicken and two lamb legs today. Your belly was still round...

Haining's nightlife was rich and varied.

How rich and varied?

Courtesans danced gracefully among the flowers, wealthy young masters brooded under the moon, vagrants begged in the streets, and heads bobbed through the restaurants...

Several rice and flour shops were still open. Nighttime was actually when their business was best. Most people worked during the day and had no time at all; only at night could they go out and buy daily necessities.

Mm, not bad. Lin Su found the curfews of Feudal Society especially irritating. If he had transmigrated into one of those particular dynasties where curfews began at nightfall, half the joy in life would have been gone.

There was a pawnshop ahead as well. Lin Su headed straight for it, took out the Golden Pearl, and handed it over. "Shopkeeper, can this be pawned?"

The shopkeeper inspected it closely. This Golden Pearl was exquisitely fashioned, and the gold was of first-rate purity. His eyes immediately lit up...

"Dead pawn or Live Pawn?"

A dead pawn was basically the same as selling it outright. The pawnshop could directly resell it.

A Live Pawn was for temporarily weathering hard times. The pawned item was merely collateral, and before the deadline arrived, the pawnshop could not dispose of it as it pleased.

"Either is fine. If Shopkeeper likes it, you can buy it outright."

"How much does Young Master want?" The shopkeeper picked up the Golden Pearl, narrowed his eyes into slits, and inspected it again.

"How much will Shopkeeper offer?"

"Three taels of silver!"

"Fine!"

The shopkeeper was stunned.

What stunned him even more was that after the young man received the silver, he tore up the pawn ticket on the spot. What did that mean? It meant this "dead pawn" could not have been any deader. Even if he wanted to redeem it, he absolutely could not.

Could there be something wrong with this Golden Pearl?

Before the young man could leave for good, the shopkeeper seized the chance to inspect it again. There was no problem. The purity was impeccable, the craftsmanship exquisite—and that was not even the most valuable part of the bead. That hook on it was the truly valuable thing. If he was not mistaken, it was Extreme North Blue Crystal!

Extreme North Blue Crystal was exceedingly rare. A hook this size was worth at least a hundred taels of silver!

Which family's foolish spendthrift was this?

Lin Su had already left the pawnshop and entered a rice and flour shop...

Before long, he headed home carrying a large sack in each hand: one sack of rice and one sack of flour. Xiao Yao carried a jug and hugged a bundle. The jug contained oil, while the contents of the bundle were strange. Xiao Yao only recognized pepper and scallions; she knew none of the rest. Some of these things had come from a general store, while others had been bought at an apothecary...

The bundle smelled so pungent that after Xiao Yao had carried it for a while, tears began streaming down her face...

Lin Su, however, was delighted.

Two huge sacks, with a total weight of at least a hundred and fifty jin. He carried one in each hand without the slightest effort. Possessing Dual Roots of Literary and Martial Arts had transformed his constitution.

And secondly, silver had astonishing purchasing power here. Three taels of silver had bought this entire heap of goods, and he still had more than one tael left over!

As they neared home, Lin Su suddenly noticed someone outside their gate—a furtive figure.

Someone was setting their sights on a house this rundown?

That was going too far...

Just as Lin Su was about to shout, the shadowy figure knelt down, kowtowed three times toward the Lin Family's main gate, then turned and ran away.

They reached the gate and gently pushed open the courtyard door. It gave a creak.

This door needed some motor oil. That creak-creak sound always reminded him of Lanruo Temple in A Chinese Ghost Story.

Everyone knew the Lin Family was impoverished. There was no need for this sort of atmosphere-building...

A small bundle lay by the door. Lin Su opened it, and a strange expression appeared on his face. Inside were three dark wotou buns.

His second brother, Lin Jialiang, came out from inside. The moment he saw the things at the gate, his eyes widened. "Third Brother, th-this... where did this come from?"

"This was brought by that man. Oh, right, he also kowtowed three times outside!" Lin Su handed the three wotou buns to his second brother and pointed toward the grass outside. The man had not run far; he was still hiding in the grass, naturally assuming no one had seen him. But what he did not know was that Lin Su and Lin Jialiang were both men of the literary path, with sharp ears and keen eyes.

Lin Jialiang lifted his gaze and stared in the direction Lin Su indicated. "It's Old He! Old He is an honest man as well. Mother just gave him some meat, and he insisted on repaying it... Mm, then where did these come from?"

Second Brother pointed at the several large sacks by Lin Su's feet. Shen's Rice and Flour Shop was written on them; they were obviously rice and flour. They could not have been sent by Old He.

"I bought them!"

"Where did you get the money?"

"Today at the restaurant, a Fox Demon older sister gave me a Golden Pearl..." He told him the entire story exactly as it had happened.

Lin Jialiang's eyes opened especially wide as he stared at Lin Su in utter astonishment. After a long while, he gently shook his head. "Third Brother, either you should not have accepted that Golden Pearl—after all, humans and demons walk different paths. A gentleman keeps himself pure, and no one could fault you for that—or you should have hidden it away properly. It was a token of her feelings, after all. But you accepted it all the same and sold it all the same... That truly was not the conduct of a gentleman."

"I wanted to keep it too, but Xiao Yao was about to starve to death. We had to get some rice and flour..."

Xiao Yao stared at Third Young Master with round eyes. What filled her heart was undoubtedly Big Brother is so good. Not a trace of awareness about "taking the blame and carrying the black pot for someone else" crossed her mind.

The empty kitchen finally had firewood burning in it once more. Xiao Yao was barely taller than the stove, but she hopped up to wash the pot with practiced movements. Lin Su rolled up his sleeves and opened the sack of flour when Lin Jialiang's voice came from outside. "Third Brother, come out. A gentleman stays far from the kitchen. The kitchen is no place for you."

"I'm teaching Xiao Yao."

This time, Xiao Yao refused to be the familiar scapegoat. She objected—Big Brother, I can cook. You don't need to teach me.

"What can you make?"

"Wotou buns!"

"Like the ones Old He made just now?"

"Mm!"

"Then forget it... I'll make something I like to eat myself."

Outside, Lin Jialiang craned his neck longingly. He wanted to enter the kitchen, drag his third brother out, and sternly tell him what the way of a scholar was and what The Way of the Gentleman was. But he ultimately held himself back. In theory, it was only natural for a second brother to lecture a third brother, but his third brother's performance today had been too miraculous. Lin Jialiang had no confidence before him. Forget it. A scholar entering a kitchen was not such a grave matter. He would let him play around for now.

A waft of Qingxiang drifted through the wind...

It came from the kitchen...

Just that single breath stirred a powerful appetite in Lin Jialiang...

Before long, Lin Su carried out a large bowl. Inside were thread-like strands, dotted with bits of scallion...

"This is..." Lin Jialiang took the bowl and examined it.

"Noodles!"

"Noodles? Made from flour? What was the point of pulling it strand by strand into such a shape?" Lin Jialiang did not understand.

Pulling them strand by strand? Why don't you pull some for me to see... Wait, did this world not have noodles?

After asking around, he found that it truly did not. Here, flour had only one use: knead it into a lump and steam it into something resembling a yellow ox's... Oh, no, steam it into wotou buns!

In the eyes of the world, flour was for filling the belly, not for embroidery. No matter what shape it was made into, it would ultimately go into the stomach and then become that stuff...

In the world of food, they were all terminators.

Lin Su, a man who cared about the process, was terribly lonely.

Forget it. Lin Su could not be bothered to search the classics of the sages for "what great truth of life lay in noodles being shaped into strands." He simply pushed Second Brother toward the main hall. "Take this bowl of noodles to Mother!"

The Way of Filial Piety had long become second nature to Second Brother. These fragrant noodles naturally ought to be given to their mother.

"I'll do it!" Someone approached from beneath the moonlight. It was Yu Lou.

"Let's go together!"

Madam Lin had already planned to rest. During this period, she truly had not rested well at all.

As for dinner, she had automatically ignored it. Back when she had been the wife of a marquis, she naturally ate three meals a day. But after falling from the clouds into the dust, meals were no longer regular. When she was starving badly, she would find something to eat. When she was not starving quite so badly, how could there be grain to waste?

Today, she had eaten half a lamb leg. If she kept a diary, this matter deserved an entry. She had eaten lamb leg already; how could she possibly eat dinner again?

She was indeed a little hungry, but once she fell asleep, she would not be hungry anymore.

Suddenly, a knock sounded outside. "Mother, Third Brother made some fresh food and sent it for Mother to taste."

The door opened. Madam Lin accepted the bowl Yu Lou held. Looking at the noodles in the bowl, she had the same confusion as Lin Jialiang, but when she brought them to her nose and sniffed, she too felt her stomach suddenly begin to stir.

"It is rather novel—so white, so fragrant..." She picked up a noodle and put it into her mouth. Her eyes suddenly lit up.

After eating half the bowl, she gave the rest to Xiao Tao. Once Xiao Tao tasted it, she was far less restrained. Her chopsticks clearly sped up, sweat even beading on her forehead, and not a single drop of soup remained.

"Who would have thought that flour prepared this way could become so delicious? You say this was San Lang's idea?"

"Third Brother personally went into the kitchen and made it for Mother."

"Personally went into the kitchen? That scoundrel! A gentleman stays far from the kitchen. How could a great poet and famed scholar like him demean himself so? What kind of second brother are you? You did not stop him. If word got out, would that not sweep all refinement into the dust?"

After a fierce scolding, Lin Jialiang's face flushed red, then turned pale. I did try to stop him. I just couldn't...

"Xiao Tao, go tell him this comes from me: from now on, Third Young Master is not allowed to step one foot into the kitchen."

"Yes, Madam!"